Sexuality and Democracy: Identities and Strategies in by Momin Rahman

Drawing at the instance set via feminists, this textbook explores the issues of pursuing lesbian and homosexual political agendas in the current constitution of democracy. utilizing an interdisciplinary technique, the writer connects the research of lesbian and homosexual identities in sociology and cultural stories with the research of democracy in political conception. This paves the way in which for a attention of the consequences of sociological theories of sexuality for democratic thought and perform. attractive with queer concept, the dominant standpoint within the quarter of sexual id and politics, the writer deals a critique of some of the theorists - together with Judith Butler and Diana Fuss - and instructions inside this box. This technique bargains a extensive specialise in the problems of citizenship and criminal, social and political rules with which queer theorists are concerned. modern with present debates, this ebook displays the necessity to go back from an inaccessible point of summary conception. It grounds principles approximately sexuali

During this thought-provoking interdisciplinary paintings, Shaun Marmon describes how eunuchs, as a class of people that embodied ambiguity, either outlined and mediated severe thresholds of ethical and actual area within the loved ones, within the palace and within the tomb of pre-modern Islamic society. The author's primary concentration is at the sacred society of eunuchs who guarded the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad in Medina for over six centuries and whose final representatives nonetheless practice a lot of their time venerated rituals to this present day.

During this ebook, Carrie L. Buist and Emily Lenning contemplate the origins of Queer Criminology, survey the foundational study and scholarship during this rising box, and supply feedback for the long run. protecting subject matters akin to the criminalization of queerness; the policing of Queer groups; Queer stories within the court docket; and the correctional keep watch over of Queer humans, Queer Criminology synthesizes the paintings of criminologists, reporters, felony students, non-governmental businesses, and others to light up the historic and modern context of the Queer adventure.

Facing ethical, political and sexual tensions, this quantity offers a discussion board for male/female discussion in regards to the background, dissemination and effects of pornographic representaion in movie and literature, aiming to problem verified perspectives and encourage additional exploration and debate.

This eye-opening learn supplies a nuanced, provocative account of the way German infantrymen within the nice battle skilled and enacted masculinity. Drawing on an array of correct narratives and media, it explores the ways in which either heterosexual and gay squaddies expressed emotion, understood romantic beliefs, and approached intimacy and sexuality.

Additional info for Sexuality and Democracy: Identities and Strategies in Lesbian and Gay Politics

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The essentialist construction of sexuality is not solely about biology, and the other facets of an essential sexuality – moral and mental wellbeing – have not been displaced. A ‘health’or ‘needs’discourse may allow ‘perverse’people to join in the game, but the ultimate aims of the game are the same. After all, anything apart from penetration, while it may be fun and good for you, is still only fore-play. Heterosexuals are still the only truly biologically legitimate type. The most striking and depressing example of this understanding of sexuality was the reaction to the AIDS epidemic in Britain and the USA.

Centuries of thought have characterised humans as split between the mind and the body, with the body regarded as a complex physical mechanism. Anatomy was thought to dictate behaviour and impulses to behaviour were thus understood as the need to achieve a ‘natural’ balance within the body. This dualist view was conceptualised most thoroughly by the philosopher Descartes in the seventeenth century (1986). Physical urges were understood as bodily needs that had to be fulfilled. The concept of lust or desire was similarly understood as a bodily need and thus explained by anatomical reasoning.

Furthermore, the variety and frequency of the sexual behaviour of these men is not known, nor is there any information about their general lifestyles. This lack of information could be taken to suggest that the actual behaviour of these men is less important than the fact that they have identified as gay. Of course, LeVay is assuming that that self or medically labelled identities can be equated with a particular type of behaviour but he presents no evidence to support this. The central flaw in this and similar research is that it accepts the social framework of gender divisions and sexual identities without question, particularly that aspect which assumes that sexuality is divided rigidly by gender, eternally and exclusively focused on one gendered object or the other.